Magic Bullets

The search for a "cure" for cancer is the greatest epic in the history of science. It spans centuries and continents and is full of its share of heroes, villains, and sudden vertiginous twists. This episode follows that centuries-long search, but centers on the story of Sidney Farber, who, defying conventional wisdom in the late 1940s, introduces the modern era of chemotherapy, eventually galvanizing a full-scale national "war on cancer."